VII. The Religion of the Marranos

CHAPTER VII

THE RELIGION OF THE MARRANOS

A PICTURE of the Marranos cannot be complete without an attempt to describe, not only the vicissitudes through which they passed, but in addition the actual practices and beliefs which they cherished; not merely what happened to them, but also what they were. The popular conception of a subterranean Judaism, entirely cut off from the outer world, but in secret clinging with the utmost fidelity to every jot and tittle of the ancestral rites and ceremonies, is obviously untrue. Uninstructed and isolated, cut off from the outside world, and deprived even of the guidance of literature, it was impossible for them to preserve the traditions of Judaism in anything like entirety. This did not indeed apply to the earliest generations. Down to the middle of the sixteenth century, both in Spain and in Portugal, the influence of Judaism remained strong, and, though observances were restricted by fear, they were not warped by ignorance. The Marranos of this period retained some knowledge of the Hebrew language. They continued to possess Hebrew books. They observed the dietary laws in full, when it was possible. Private synagogues were maintained, the services being conducted perhaps by former rabbis. Sabbath and festivals were kept with all possible rigor. They would do their utmost to be buried near their unconverted fathers, and would follow Jewish funeral rites.

As the sixteenth century progressed, such an approach to conformity became exceptional. A new generation grew up, with no first-hand acquaintance of official Judaism, no knowledge of the traditional language of prayer, and no literature for their guidance. All that they had to go upon was oral tradition and the authority of the Jewish Scriptures, which remained accessible to them in the Latin version. To this we may perhaps add the edicts and fulminations of the Inquisition itself, which in certain cases demonstrably served to indicate to those wavering in their faith what they should do, instead of the practices which they should avoid. It is from this point that the “religion” of the Marranos (for it was little less) had of necessity to begin; and from that time onwards we can trace an uninterrupted tradition.

Complete uniformity, of course, is not to be expected. Cut off as they were from one another, and lacking the unifying influence of books, it was inevitable that the degree and nature of observance should have differed from generation to generation, from place to place, and even from family to family. Nor is the information upon the subject which is to be found in contemporary sources to be relied upon implicitly. The nature of the Inquisitorial suspicions, largely based upon biblical reminiscence, naturally colored the accusations on the one hand and the enforced confessions on the other, so that the latter, in many cases, must inevitably be suspect. There are discernible, however, certain main tendencies, which may be utilized in drawing a consistent picture, to be applied with more or less fidelity to the whole period.1

The new religion did not lack what may perhaps be termed its “theology.” In the last chapter of the apocry-

phal Book of Baruch, the Epistle of Jeremy, there occurs a passage in which the prophet exhorts his brethren of the Babylonian exile: “When ye see a multitude before you and behind bowing down ye shall say in your hearts: Thou alone art to be praised, O Lord.” We are informed by an erudite contemporary that the Marranos of his generation applied the words “bowing down” to the Jews instead of to their Babylonian enemies, interpreting the passage as a divine license to worship strange gods in case of necessity, so long as the heart remains inclined to the God of Heaven. Equally informative is the sermon preached by Antonio Homem, the Praeceptor Infelix, at the secret service at which he officiated at Coimbra on the Day of Atonement in 1615, as reported by an informer who was present. He taught, it appears, that the essential difference between Judaism and Christianity lay in the two questions of the observance of the Sabbath and the worship of images; and that, while living in persecution, it was sufficient to have in mind the intention of performing those precepts of the Law which could not safely be observed.

The doctrine of the ordinary Marrano was, however, simpler than this by far. It lay in one sentence—that salvation was possible through the Law of Moses, and not through the Law of Christ. This phrase is of constant recurrence throughout the Inquisitional records, occurring with an insistence which it is impossible to ignore. It is pathetic in the extreme. Intended as a confession of the Jewish faith, it employed nevertheless the language and the conceptions of Catholic theology. To observe one’s religion merely in order to secure salvation unattainable to followers of another faith, is an

intolerant conception entirely alien to the traditional Jewish spirit.

In some other points of considerable importance, the Marranos were profoundly influenced by their environment. Victims of the Inquisition were revered as martyrs. In honor of certain outstanding figures, religious confraternities were actually formed, very much as though some Christian saint were in question. “St. Raphael,” “St. Esther,” and “St. Tobit” (the last-named being considered the patron of travel) actually found their way into the Marrano liturgy. Catholic in inspiration, too, was the usage of fasting “for the living and for the dead;” and even more so, the custom of paying a third person, or even leaving a legacy, for vicarious affliction, as was sometimes done. We even read of a Mexican woman who acted as a professional faster, charging one piece-of-eight on each occasion.

Nevertheless, Jewish doctrine was not by any means submerged. Though persecution may have embittered some to the point of sacrilege and blasphemy, others managed to retain the traditional Jewish tolerance for the views of others, no matter how difficult the conditions. “A man will be saved by his works, whatever his creed,” asserted a simple Marrano woman; and a zealous priest denounced Antonio Fernando Carvajal, the founder of English Jewry, for the heretical statement: “Don Mathias, although I am a Jew, we shall meet in heaven.” Similar instances could be multiplied.

The Messianic idea did not exhaust itself with the mere denial of the claims of Jesus. Restoration of the “Land of Promise” continued to occupy an important part in Marrano hopes and prayers. In its early genera-

tions, as we have seen, the Marranos had their pseudoMessiah, Luis Dias of Setubal, and their prophetess, the Maid of Herrera, to mention only two. As late as the middle of the seventeenth century, the reports which reached the Peninsula of Sabbatai Zevi, the Turkish pretender who set all the Levant in a blaze, were sufficient to attract a concourse of adherents. A special watch was set at all the sea-ports to detain those who set out to join him; and a muleteer of Toledo was punished severely for conducting suspected Judaizers clandestinely out of the country for that purpose. A few years later, the Mogadouro family, seven members of which suffered at successive autos at Lisbon, were fortified in their Judaism by the report that the astrologers of Holland had asserted the existence of undiscovered lands, where the Jews were in instant expectation of the coming of the Messiah. In Mexico, the Messiah had been confidently expected for 1642 or 1643; and extravagant hopes were centered in the person of Gaspar Vaez Sevilla, a known descendant of the tribe of Levi, who had been born there of devout parentage in 1624.

Judaism, even at its least traditional, is necessarily to a large extent a rule of life, rather than a mere creed; and Marranism never ceased to partake of this nature. A preliminary inquiry which suggests itself is the nature of the initiation into its practices. Children were frequently brought up as devout Catholics, being allowed by their parents to be introduced fortuitously into the secrets of their faith by outside influences. Thus in some families the various members tacitly assumed that all the others were Judaizers, or “Portuguese,” but never ventured to communicate together on the subject. Some-

times, the rational tendency inherent in the Jew seems to have sufficed to bring out doubts which ultimately led automatically to reversion to the ancestral faith (an instance of this we have already seen above, in the case of Maldonado da Silva). One person who appeared before the Inquisition, half a New Christian, frankly confessed that “his blood on his mother’s side had inclined him to entertain doubts in matters of faith, and, if anybody had informed him that there was a Law of Moses, doubtless he would have followed it.” Some persons braved all perils to proselytize amongst those whom they knew to be of Jewish stock. Finally, the fulminations of the Inquisition itself, and natural feeling for the persecuted, led in some cases to sympathetic attention to the very beliefs and practices which it was desired to suppress; this was indeed the case sometimes with Old Christians as well as New.

Parents must obviously have been unwilling to risk the eternal damnation of their children (as they considered it) by leaving the matter to chance. Yet, whichever way they turned, they were faced with danger. If the younger generation were initiated into their secret from earliest youth, their childish prattle was likely to jeopardize the lives of the whole family. If they waited until maturity, Catholicism might be so deeply instilled in them that disclosure would be dangerous as well as useless; for religious zeal was no respecter of so trivial a consideration as family ties, and cases where children accused their parents, or even husbands their wives, are by no means uncommon. The obvious compromise between the two alternatives was to wait until adolescence, when parental authority on the one hand was still strong,

and on the other discretion might be expected. For this purpose, the ancient Jewish rite of Bar Mizvah, at the end of the thirteenth year, when a boy entered upon his full religious responsibilities, was naturally indicated. It appears highly probable that the traditional introduction at this age to full performance of the precepts of the Law became transformed into initiation to the secret rites and mysteries of Marranism. Thus Gabriel de Granada, tried in Mexico for Judaizing in 1642–3, stated specifically that “when he was at the age of thirteen years, Dona Maria de Rivera, his mother, called him and, when alone with him in the house in which they lived in the Alcayceria, she told him how the law of Our Lord Jesus Christ which he followed was not good, nor true, but that of Moses... because it is the true, good, and necessary law for his salvation...” One of the charges brought against Antonio Roiz de Castello, who was martyred at Lisbon in 1647, was that he had been in the habit of instructing children in Jewish practices at the age of thirteen. It may be assumed that this was the common, if not the invariable, practice.

The religion into which a child was thus initiated was necessarily far removed from integral Judaism. The fundamental rite of circumcision was obviously an impossibility; for its discovery was tantamount to a sentence of death. Although therefore some neophyte of especial zeal might perform the operation on himself, or some venturesome youth might be initiated overseas, or isolated groups at distant spots might show a greater hardihood, the generality dispensed with the rite. They found, indeed, some justification in the Bible. God did not account it a sin that the children of Israel born in

the wilderness were not circumcised until they reached the Promised Land, by reason of the inconvenience of their circumstances. Assuredly, their own unwilling noncompliance would be judged with equal lenience.

The weaker sex were fully as steadfast in their observance as men, or even more so. At the earliest Inquisitional period in Spain, we are informed how women comprised the vast majority of the few who maintained their Judaism to the end and thus died the deaths of true martyrs. It is significant that women took a prominent part in initiation to Judaism in several known cases, showed an especial familiarity with the prayers, and were in some instances peculiarly meticulous in their observance. It was by the mothers and the wives that the Marrano circle in Mexico, in the first half of the seventeenth century, was presided over and inspired. Ultimately it became customary for a woman to act as the spiritual leader of the Marrano groups. It is a striking manifestation of the vital position occupied by the woman in Jewish life.

Any knowledge of Hebrew, the traditional language of prayer, was almost out of the question. True, in the earlier period, we frequently read of the seizure of Hebrew books, and even the use of Hebrew speech; while on one occasion we are informed of a person against whom no other complaint could be made, except that he could sign his name only in Hebrew! However, in the subsequent generation, any acquaintance with that tongue must have been a rare phenomenon, except that not inconsiderable class which endeavored to dissimulate its disbelief by entering Holy Orders. Even the possession of Jewish works in translation would have ex-

posed the owner to persecution; indeed, in the whole vast Inquisitional literature, there is barely a mention of the seizure of Judaistic writings after the sixteenth century. The place of the voluminous ancient sacred literature was now taken by the Latin version of the Bible. The New Testament was of course neglected; but so far was Jewish tradition forgotten that the Apocrypha seems to have been treated with the same reverence as the Old Testament. It was from the Bible alone, fortified by fragmentary tradition, that the Marranos derived encouragement and guidance. Observance was almost exclusively based upon its literal interpretation, even in points when it was at variance with catholic Jewish teaching. Of the Hebrew language, only the very fewest fragments were preserved in oral tradition. Adonai continued to be used for the Divine Name; and one solitary complete phrase in which it figures was remembered, though in a mutilated form. With these trivial exceptions, which had long since lost their full meaning, the prayers of the Marranos were in the vernacular. Of necessity, they had to be handed down by word of mouth. No books were used in their services: and the couple of manuscripts of the liturgy which have been preserved are late in date, and most exceptional. Sometimes the prayers were original, especially those composed in verse which, it may be imagined, are the latest in date. Many, however, and especially those in prose, seem to have been based upon memories of the ancient Hebrew texts.

The number of prayers was most exiguous. A full compilation of the Marrano liturgy so far as it is known does not fill more than forty printed pages. Sometimes,

a neophyte seems to have been taught only one prayer as the whole of his spiritual panoply. A new specimen was regarded as treasure-trove, and a person who learned one hastened to communicate it to his confidants. On special occasions, it appears, the whole repertory had to be repeated, time after time, with pathetic monotony. Nevertheless, there was a perpetual store of spiritual comfort in the Psalms of David, accessible to all in the Vulgate version; though the Inquisition was always lying in wait for such as should be heard repeating them without the gloria patri at the close.2 In the secret conventicle at Coimbra, psalms comprised a very large part of the service on the Day of Atonement. Vernacular versions, in prose and verse, form a considerable proportion of the Marrano liturgy of the later period, and inspire the majority of the remainder. Instead of the Christological concluding formula repeated by their neighbors, the Marranos were accustomed to recite some similar, but less objectionable, phrase, such as: “In the name of the Lord, Adonai: amen!” Another manner of making up the liturgical dearth was by reciting familiar prayers of the Church, with any necessary omissions: thus we are told of a certain New Christian youth who confessed that he used to commend himself to God with the “orations” of the Christians. The Lord’s Prayer, in its primitive simplicity, obtained a definite place in liturgical usage. Meetings for prayer were generally informal. However, we read occasionally of the existence of secret synagogues or conventicles, at which services were held at more or less regular intervals.

In worship, Jewish and Christian practices were intermingled. At the earliest period, it was customary to cover

the head; but this soon fell into desuetude. The preliminary washing of the hands, whereby Judaism made cleanliness precede Godliness, remained usual; indeed, it was at one time taken as a sign of Judaizing. Facing towards the East was another practice which was perpetuated. Covering the head during prayer with a white cloth, in imitation of the traditional tallit, managed to survive, at least locally, up to a very late period. On the other hand, kneeling during service, contrary to Jewish usage, became so prevalent as to receive specific mention in the liturgy. Prayers were recited rather than chanted in the traditional fashion; obviously, in part from oblivion of the old tunes, and in part from fear of attracting attention. Highly characteristic was the loyal preservation of the custom of blessing the children, the father passing his hands over their faces at the close.

Of the ceremonial Jewish rites, the most characteristic are those connected with food. In this, too, some of the Marranos of the first generation were meticulous, a shohet or ritual slaughterer being occasionally found continuing his activities although baptized. Detailed observance in so public a matter would have been equivalent to suicide at a later period. The flesh of the unclean beasts mentioned in the Mosaic code could indeed be omitted from the diet without too much difficulty. Hence the Inquisition was always especially on watch for such as abstained from pork, rabbit, and scaleless fish. Yielding to circumstances, however, the Marrano had to abandon the idea of procuring food killed in the Jewish manner. One or two things remained possible. In the Bible, he could read (Gen. 32.33) how

the children of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh; and it was customary accordingly, whenever it could be done without suspicion, to “porge” the leg before preparing it for food. Moreover, when chickens were killed at home, their heads were chopped off instead of their necks being wrung—an approximation to the ritual regulations. A prayer even existed to be recited before killing animals for food. In over-meticulous conformity with the Levitical ordinance, the Marranos refused to touch any animal fat. Hence they were forced to utilize oil only in cooking, this coming to be recognized as one of the regular practices of Judaism. All meat was regularly washed, in order to remove every trace of blood.

From pork, the Marranos of the earlier generations would try to abstain, going so far as to destroy any dish in which it had been inadvertently prepared, and telling their children that those who ate pork would be turned into pigs. The intense suspicion attaching to this, coupled with the fact that in a large part of the Peninsula the flesh of the pig in some form or other is the staple food of the majority of the population, ultimately made rigid observance in this respect impossible. Yet for all this, the regulations concerning it did not entirely disappear. Though forced to contaminate themselves with “impure” food for the major part of the year, the Marranos refused to do so on any occasion of especial sanctity. Thus it became customary with them to abstain from pork at least on Sabbaths, and during the periods leading up to the Passover and to the Day of Atonement; while they avoided eating any meat during the seven days of mourning upon the death of a parent and im-

mediately before or after any fast. The origin of this custom was ultimately so completely forgotten that it came to be considered an integral observance of Judaism. On those days when any individual kept a minor fast, he was restricted to supping off fish and vegetables; while the rest of his family, who had not fasted, had no scruples against partaking of meat.

The difference between Judaism and Christianity consisted principally, according to the doctrine of Antonio Homem, in the two questions of the worship of images and the observance of the Sabbath. The latter continued to be one of the main cares of the Inquisition. To abstain from ordinary occupations on Saturday was an obvious indication of guilt. Nevertheless, food was prepared as far as possible on the previous day; and Marrano ladies would sit idle before their spinning-wheels, taking up their work only when a stranger appeared. It was usual to make a point of changing linen on Friday night, though the imprudence might bring a man to the stake. This, indeed, figured foremost among the charges which cost the illustrious Antonio José da Silva his life. In the circumstances, observance became more and more difficult. It was clung to, nevertheless, with pathetic eagerness. Angela Nuñez Marques, a devout Marrano woman of Pastrana, tried at Toledo in 1680, admitted that in spite of all her efforts she had been unable to keep more than fifteen Sabbaths in twenty years. Regular meetings for prayer on Saturdays were obviously dangerous. They were however held, as far as possible, in the months before the Passover and the Day of Atonement.

But the most persistent of all traditions relating to the

observance of the day was the kindling of the Sabbath light on Friday evening. This, in the eyes of the Inquisition, was the most damning proof of Judaism. The observant Jew would not extinguish a light after the Sabbath was inaugurated. This was a rigor the continued observance of which was not possible in time of oppression. Nevertheless, the Marranos would not couple what they conceived to be a transgression with the performance of a religious action. Hence the Sabbatical light, at all events, was allowed to burn itself out; and, long after the origin of the practice was lost, this continued to be considered an essential. Such was the veneration with which the Sabbath light was regarded (as indicated by its name, “the candle of the Lord”) that it became customary to prepare the wicks with special prayers, as a religious rite. Naturally, only pure olive oil, not animal fat, was to be used in kindling it. To conceal it from prying eyes, it was customary locally to kindle the light in a cellar, or to place it inside a pitcher; this similarly coming to be regarded as an essential observance.

Preoccupied with the salvation of their souls, and living under the conditions in which they did, the Marranos could not be expected to appreciate Judaism in its comprehensive whole. Prohibitions took a greater share in their outlook than practices. They attached more importance to fasting than to feasting. With one exception, therefore, the festivals seem to have fallen into considerable desuetude. Even the New Year, despite its traditional solemnity, appears to have been absolutely neglected—largely, no doubt, on account of its comparative inconspicuousness in the Bible. The only annual

celebrations which retained their importance were the Passover and the Day of Atonement.

At this point, an obvious problem arises. How were the dates calculated? The Jewish calendar, with its careful adjustment of the solar and lunar systems by means of sporadic intercalary months, was far too complicated to be preserved orally. Had twelve lunar months been reckoned to every year, the preservation of the reckoning would have been difficult, and in any case the cycle of seasons would have become ridiculously inaccurate within a very short period. We have one clue to the solution of this mystery. In the Inquisitional records, the Day of Atonement is consistently referred to as being celebrated on the tenth day after the New Moon of September, and the Passover as coinciding with the Full Moon of March. What seems to have happened was, that the Marranos made use of the current solar calendar as a basis for their lunar reckoning. Thus they celebrated the Day of Atonement on the tenth day after the New Moon which fell in the month of September, and the Passover on the fourteenth day after the New Moon of March. In most cases, this reckoning would have been accurate, within a day or two; but sometimes it must have been nearly a month out. Thus in 1606, when the Day of Atonement actually fell on October 12, it was celebrated at Coimbra some time between the tenth and the fifteenth of the previous month; and in 1618, when Passover occurred on April 10, it was observed some time in the month of March. In Mexico, on one occasion, there was a great dispute in the Marrano community relative to the date of an approach-

ing celebration, one faction wishing to observe it ten days before the other.

Ultimately, a further complication was introduced. At the time of the more solemn celebrations of the Jewish year, the Inquisition and its myrmidons became more vigilant. In order to evade their watchfulness, it became customary to wait for a day or two, until their attention was relaxed. Then the customary rites could be observed with comparative impunity. Thus the Day of Atonement was kept on the eleventh day after the New Moon of September, instead of the tenth; while the major solemnities of the Passover were observed after the first two days had expired, on the night of the sixteenth of the lunar month instead of the fourteenth. This curious perversion was ultimately regarded as mandatory, its origin being forgotten. For fixing the dates, the authority of some person of especial piety or learning was followed. Thus we hear that the New Christians of Guadalajara in New Galicia, when they were desirous of knowing whether they should fast on one day or another, watched the house of Violante Juarez (subsequently reconciled at the auto in Mexico City in 1648). If the door was closed and she was idle, they knew that some religious celebration fell on that day.

The Day of Atonement, in particular, retained all of its solemnity amongst the Marranos, who braved all perils in order to celebrate it together. On the previous day, they bathed, in accordance with the traditional practice. In the evening, candles were lighted in abundance “for the living and for the dead,” being placed upon clean white cloths. The entire day was spent in one

another’s company, in complete abstention from food. Meanwhile, all the prayers they knew were repeated, time after time, or the Messianic prophecies of the Bible were discussed. Among the ancient traditions of the day preserved was that of having four services between sunrise and sundown, instead of the normal three. Though the practice of wearing no shoes was retained, they did not recognize it as one of the traditional deprivations, but considered it a tribute to the sanctity of the place of prayer; finding biblical precedent in the conduct of Moses before the Burning Bush (Ex. 3.5). The title given to the day was Dia Pura or “Day of Purity”—an obvious corruption of the Hebrew Kippur, but giving nevertheless an impression of the special character with which it was invested in their eyes. The traditional Jewish characterization as the Day of Pardon (from Heaven) seems to have been slightly misinterpreted; for an outstanding feature of the celebration was the formal forgiving of one another for offences received.3 Thus, at the prayer-meeting at Coimbra in 1616, all the congregation were urged to pardon one another: “for that was the Day of Pardon.” It was natural for the dates of the various celebrations of the coming year to be publicly announced at the general assemblage on this occasion. Before and after the fast, as has been pointed out, it was customary to make a meal of fish and vegetables; not meat, since none was available which had been prepared according to the ritually prescribed fashion.

The other great biblical celebration was the Passover. The observance of this, locally at least, was obviously dictated by biblical reminiscence, a meal being prepared

in which the principal dish was a lamb cooked whole. Those partaking of it stood, booted, with staffs in their hands, in literal fulfillment of the biblical precept: practices long since abandoned in Jewish usage. In Mexico, persons went so far as to smear their doorposts with the blood of the sacrifice. The traditional three cakes of unleavened bread was consumed at the same time as the lamb. A special ritual grew up in time about the preparation of this “Holy Bread,” as it was called. A fragment separated from it, symbolizing the ancient offering (Num. 15.17–21), was thrown into the fire: a survival of a regular Jewish religious practice which had originally caused the Inquisition grave preoccupation, and which had survived sporadically in its old form up to the close of the seventeenth century. In order to elude the Inquisitional vigilance, it became customary to perform the ceremony of baking the unleavened bread two days late, on the sixteenth of the month; so that on the first two days of the feast no bread, leavened or unleavened, was eaten. This ceremony ultimately assumed the prominence of the traditional Seder-service on the first evening of the festival. Such elaborate observance was possible however only under unusual conditions of security.

Of the observance of the other biblical feasts, we hear virtually nothing. Tabernacles is occasionally mentioned, but without details. Pentecost disappeared entirely, or nearly so. The minor celebration of Hanukkah seems to have remained (though no details are given) as the Feast of Candles. Except for these scant remains, the festive cycle which plays so prominent a part in traditional Jewish life was utterly submerged.

Notwithstanding this general diminution, there was one occasion of the Jewish year which attained an enhanced importance in Marrano eyes. Although the joyous minor feast of Purim was entirely forgotten, the socalled Fast of Esther (observed, as a sort of antidote, upon its eve) attracted their attention to a remarkable degree; and the importance which it ultimately acquired rivaled that of the Day of Atonement itself. The reason is not far to seek. Was not the case of Esther “telling not her race nor her birth,” yet still faithful to the religion of her fathers in an alien environment, almost identical with their own? Moreover, the touching prayer ascribed to her in the Apocrypha (to them equal in sanctity with the Bible itself) seemed exactly adapted to their needs. So much significance was attached to it that, we read, one of the daughters of Francisco Rodríguez Mattos, “dogmatist and Rabbi of the Jewish sect,” burned in effigy in Mexico in 1592, could actually repeat it backwards. The phraseology of the passage* explains the popularity which it enjoyed:— “And she prayed unto the Lord God of Israel, saying, O my Lord, Thou only art our King: help me, desolate woman, which have no helper but Thee: For my danger is in mine hand. From my youth up I have heard in the tribe of my family, that Thou, O Lord, tookest Israel from among all people, and our fathers from all their predecessors, for a perpetual inheritance, and Thou hast performed whatsoever Thou didst promise them. And now we have sinned before

Thee: therefore hast Thou given us into the hands

*The Rest of Esther, 14.3–19.

of our enemies, because we worshipped their gods: O Lord Thou art righteous. Nevertheless it satisfieth them not, that we are in bitter captivity: but they have stricken hands with their idols, that they will abolish the thing that Thou with Thy mouth hast ordained, and destroy Thine inheritance, and stop the mouth of them that praise Thee, and quench the glory of Thy house, and of Thine altar, and open the mouths of the heathen to set forth the praises of the idols, and to magnify a fleshly king for ever. O Lord, give not Thy sceptre unto them that be nothing, and let them not laugh at our fall; but turn their device upon themselves, and make him an example, that hath begun this against us. Remember, O Lord, make Thyself known in time of our affliction, and give me boldness, O King of the nations, and Lord of all power. Give me eloquent speech in my mouth before the lion: turn his heart to hate him that fighteth against us, that there may be an end of him, and of all that are likeminded to him: But deliver us with Thine hand, and help me that am desolate, and which have no other help but Thee. Thou knowest all things, O Lord: Thou knowest that I hate the glory of the unrighteous, and abhor the bed of the uncircumcised, and of all the heathen. Thou knowest my necessity: for I abhor the sign of my high estate, which is upon mine head in the days wherein I shew myself, and that I abhor it as a menstruous rag, and that I wear it not when I am private by myself, and that Thine handmaid hath not eaten at Aman’s table, and that I have not greatly esteemed the king’s feast, nor drunk the wine of the drink offerings. Neither had

Thine handmaid any joy since the day that I was brought hither to this present, but in Thee, O Lord

God of Abraham. O Thou mighty God above all, hear the voice of the forlorn, and deliver us out of the hands of the mischievous, and deliver me out of my fear.”

The fast associated with the name of Esther thus attracted the Marranos in an especial degree; and in the Inquisitional records it has an importance second to no other day in the Marrano calendar. It was generally observed on the Full Moon of February, precisely a month before the Passover. According to the biblical account, Esther herself fasted on three consecutive days —not, as a matter of fact, in the month of Adar, when the commemoration is observed, but three months later. So greatly did the parallel with their case affect the Marranos that some at least of them followed the example, keeping a three-days’ fast, with an austerity unknown to traditional Judaism. Thus we hear of a woman of good family, who died young by reason of observing the three days of this fast.

Without any biblical authority, it had been customary in former ages for certain ultra-pietists to fast twice every week, on Mondays and Thursdays, in atonement for their presumed sins. No sin, obviously, could be greater than that of apostasy. Some of the original forced converts seem accordingly to have taken up the observance of these biweekly fasts, which, though recognized as voluntary, became an institution amongst the Marranos. They are repeatedly mentioned in the Inquisitional records; and even lukewarm Judaizers in distant Mexico observed several of them in the course of com-

paratively brief periods of conformity. Such fasts were observed “for the living and for the dead”—in atonement for a departed kinsman, or for the welfare of some person in the clutches of the Inquisition. Other minor fasts which were observed, locally at least, were that of the First-born on the eve of Passover (transformed, with an excess of rigor, into a general celebration) and that of Gedaliah, on the day following the New Year. Special pietists inflicted additional austerities upon themselves, eating only every third day, besides spending two nights each week absorbed in prayer. All these fasts were kept, with characteristic severity, from sundown to sundown.

The expedients resorted to, in order to conceal the fact that a fast was being observed, were numerous. The simplest was to go out into the country, or else to feign a headache. In other cases, the servants would be sent out of the house on a trifling errand, the plates and cutlery being carefully greased during their absence in order to make it appear that the household had eaten. The most convincing and elaborate scheme was to stage a family quarrel just before mealtime, one person rushing out of the house in an assumed fit of rage, and the rest following at his heels to appease him.

Though the Marranos had to be buried with Catholic rites, they would do their best to be interred in virgin ground, or amongst their own people. On the deathbed, Jewish practices retained their hold. The Inquisition was especially concerned with those who turned their faces to the wall in their last moments; though biblical, rather than Jewish, reminiscence would appear to be reflected in this. When all was over, a piece of gold,

or a jewel, was placed in the mouth of the dead person, as the toll to be paid on being ferried over the Jordan —an extraordinary garbled survival of classical, not Hebrew, mythology. All standing water about the house was meanwhile emptied out. The traditional taharah, or ritual laving of the body, remained customary. No doubt all strangers, including of course the priest, were hurried out of the death-chamber before the last moments arrived, so that the dying man might end his days, at least, in an atmosphere of sincerity. It is possible that the ridiculous legend prevalent among the Portuguese, that the end was hastened by suffocation, may be traceable to this fact.

After the funeral, certain of the rites of the traditional Jewish week of mourning were observed. The first meal of hard-boiled eggs—the customary mourning fare—was served to the family by a stranger after their return home, just as orthodox practice prescribes. During the whole week, they would remain at home, no meat being eaten, so as to avoid a direct breach of the dietary laws at this period. Ample charity would be given. On the last of the seven days, a fast would be observed. Other fasts “for the dead” were repeated at intervals, either by the mourners themselves or else by some other person, paid for his services. Money was sometimes left with this object.

The matrimonial customs of the country had perforce to be accepted. In the earliest period, however, there were instances of New Christians who were guilty of polygamy, as was still permitted (though not by any means usual) amongst the Jews of Spain; this coming to be considered one of the symptoms of Judaizing. Even

later, Catholic matrimonial regulations were treated lightly, persons sometimes marrying their near kindred “according to the Law of Moses.” Fasting on the part of the bridal couple remained usual. The ceremony was inevitably performed in Church, though it was supplemented by a very simple home function. Nevertheless, the idea was always cherished that it should be confirmed in some proper community according to full Jewish rites when the occasion should arise. Down to the close of the eighteenth century, cases were common in the great Marrano centers overseas of the remarriage of couples “come from Portugal.” As a matter of course, alliances were contracted as far as possible amongst themselves. Somewhat amusing accounts may be read of the efforts made to find out whether a prospective bridegroom was a secret Jew, or the expedients resorted to in order to get rid of him when it was discovered that he was not, or the difficulties experienced in finding a suitable husband for a Marrano girl who was ignorant of the traditional practices, or the anger of the parents if a mixed marriage were contracted. We read how on one occasion an apathetic youth, who had fallen in love with a Marrano maiden of observant family, was taken to the principal church and shown his grandfather’s sambenito, as an inducement to Judaize. Manuel Alvarez de Arellano, who was almoner for the secret community in Mexico, also acted as medianero or marriage-broker to contract matches between the various New Christian families.

A Jewish life without charity is an unknown phenomenon. It was something with which not even Marrano observance could dispense. Accordingly, they used to pay

particular attention to their own “New Christian” poor, giving them preference over others, and making additional distributions to them on all special occasions. So great was the importance attached to this that an apposite prayer was prescribed, to be recited on the occasion of giving alms.

For a prolonged period, the Marranos handed on from father to son the secret of their old family name (generally of Hebrew or Arabic origin), though they were known to the outside world by the Gothic appellations which they had assumed from some noble sponsor at baptism. On escaping to freedom, they hastened to reassume them (witness the Abendana, Abrabanel, Musaphia, and Usque families, to cite only a very few examples). At a later period, when the hidalgo tradition had become more deeply rooted, some families combined the two elements, like the Aboab da Fonseca. Ultimately, the Hebraic tradition died out in the Peninsula. Some enthusiasts now invented fresh, characteristically Jewish appellations for themselves, or else had to rely upon the information of graybeards who had known their families. Thus a wellborn youth named d’Oliveira, a nephew of Mestre Pedro, the Queen’s physician, was assured when he reached Safed at the close of the sixteenth century that his proper family name should be Gedaliah. The less fortunate had to content themselves with the recently acquired Spanish or Portuguese surnames which are considered characteristic of them in Northern Europe. It was long, however, before the tradition of descent from the houses of Levi or of Aaron died out. We have seen how Villareal prided himself upon his semi-priestly ancestry; and, outside the Peninsula, incongruous juxtapositions of the

Hebrew and the Gothic, such as Levi Ximenes or Cohen Herrera, became common.

As far as the first names were concerned, biblical ones (generally patriarchal) were apparently adopted in secret at the time of baptism. The story was current of a Marrano youth who, asked his name, ingenuously inquired if he should say that by which he was known out of doors, or that by which he was called at home. Thus, more than one Inquisitional martyr was mourned abroad by a name different from that under which he had suffered at the stake.

Occasional attendance at Church was of course necessary. To be sure, it was reduced to a minimum. At service time, for the benefit of the neighbors, the parents would summon their children in a loud voice to go to mass. They would then sally into the street together, but would employ their time in going for a walk or paying a call. Thus it was possible for a child in one authenticated case to reach the age of fourteen without having attended a Christian service more than once. This, however, must have been exceptional. For those occasions when they were forced to enter a Church, it is not surprising that they had an uncomplimentary formula to recite, specifying that they bowed down, not to the images, but to the God of Heaven. Curious expedients were resorted to so as to avoid any active participation in the service. Thus when the Host was elevated, they would happen to be wiping their eyes, and thus would be unable to see it in time to perform the customary genuflexion.

From what has been said above, it should not be imagined that the religion of the Marranos was simply

a negative one, consisting in the denial of a few Catholic doctrines coupled with the observance of a number of dry, meaningless survivals. It is true that theirs was inevitably a narrowed, atrophied existence. In some cases, perhaps, the conception of Judaism that was current was not far removed from that of a mystical secret society, adherence to which would entail, notwithstanding its perils, considerable advantages both in this world and in the next. On the other hand, even at its furthest from traditional Judaism, the religion of the Marranos had its positive side. Notwithstanding the progressive diminution in doctrine and in practice, the fundamental Jewish conceptions retained their importance. At the constant peril of their lives, the Marranos sternly upheld the unity of God in a country where the worship of images had obscured the essentials of monotheism. They conceived divine service as something to be carried out and realized, not in prayer alone, but in the actions of daily life. They retained a vivid realization of the brotherhood of Israel and of their own identity with the great mass of their people, wheresoever they might be found. They hoped eagerly for the final Deliverance, which they bound up with the recollection of the former national center in the Land of Promise. Thus, notwithstanding oppression, all the characteristic features of traditional Judaism were preserved; and the appellation “Jews”, applied by the Inquisitors to the Marranos in scorn, may be vindicated for them as their rightful due.